Pellet mill info

[Jake]

I've searched all over the net looking for info on Pellet mills (as in to make pellets) and I can't seem to find any Manufacture websites. I have found a bunch of chineese manufactures and have tried contacting them to no avail.

Does anyone have any links to companys who make pellet making equiptment? I'm trying to find a new way to get rid of my sawdust.

 

[richg]

A few questions. How much sawdust are you dealing with? If it is a relatively small quantity, it may be more economical to sell it to a pellet manufacturer rather than buy your own equipment. Darryl Rose of Energex had put a rough number on getting a pellet mill going, forget the exact amount, but it was WELL into six figures or even higher. What kind of sawdust is it, hardwood or softwood? Is it clean and free of bark? Are you near a major highway or rail line? lots of things to consider before plunking down mega bucks on machinery.

 

[elkimmeg]

Jake I stayed out of your garage workshop wood stove issue. Where do you live state and app location is all I am courious about.
Define sawdust fine course like from a plainer or mixed. I am a carpenter, builder, remodeler, first part, time inspector.
What I do with my clean sawdust is rototill it into my gardens, It helps the soild to breath and also helps it to contain moisture longer,
It can be used to mulch around plants and reduce weeds, Again it helps hold moisture in. You would need huge vollumes for Pellet manufactures to get interested.
I Got a few suggestions to your wood stove futures I think you are planning an insert in the future. Update me on your plans maybe
I have cost effective solution

 

[Jake]

My father owns a small hardwood flooring plant in northern IL, The Sawdust is fines and course, or we can mix it (we separate fines from course). IT is 100% hardwood, Mainly Red Oak, White Oak, Hickory and walnut, but we also mill Santos mahogany, Brazilian cherry, and Cumaru. It usually takes as much as 3 weeks to fill a 45' semi van trailer.

What sort of huge volumes would we need?

We have been doing a few things with the sawdust:

Selling trailoads to horsefarms for bedding -- turns out OK but they cannot take walnut or fines
We started bagging it to sell to smaller amimal operations farms, but its a dusty dirty labor intensive process (takes 2-3 guys whereas shooting it into a trailer takes 0) but we can make 3x the amount per trailer.

There are a few places wwe can take it in WI, (i think they make some sort of paper product out of it) but it turns into a cost effectivness issue anytime any of the trailers has a mechanical problem.

 

[Jake]

And yes, I'm planning on getting an insert before next season, and I scrapped the woodstove/ shop idea.

 

[Jake]

I wouldnt be opposed to selling to a pellet manufacturer, Any near Chicago?

 

[begreen]

There is a Marth Wood Shavings Supply that makes pellets out of Marathon, WI. They make pellets and all sorts of interesting stuff with "wood flour" used as a filler in thermosetting compounds.
http://www.marthwood.com

 

[Jake]

0 other ideas?

 

[joshuaviktor]

http://www.woodfuelpellets.com/wood-pellet-mill.html

don't know how real, but some good facts, and a neat slide show.

Joshua

 

[elkimmeg]

Any time soon the large box stores will be getting ready for spring. S current inventory the Englanders stoves they discount 20 to 25% I think Englander make an insert. These are not bad stoves and 20% less makes them even better. Home Depot sells the Englanders you could get lucky and score one
http://www.englanderstoves.com/13-nci.html

 

[Hokerer]

What I do with my clean sawdust is rototill it into my gardens, It helps the soild to breath and also helps it to contain moisture longer,
It can be used to mulch around plants and reduce weeds, Again it helps hold moisture in.

You might want to think about composting that sawdust before you till it in. Sawdust requires nitrogen as part of its decomposition process. If you till it in directly, it has to get that nitrogen from the garden soil thereby robbing your plants. If you compost it first, it no longer requires nitrogen once you till it in.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I think your best bet for that volume of residue would be to find a place with an industrial wood-fired boiler operation and sell it to them by the ton. That's a hot market these days, and you would probably get $30 or $40 per ton, delivered. Maybe more if it's dried, clean sawdust.

I have a raised bed organic garden. I put the sawdust in the aisleways between the raised beds. I don't mix it directly into the soil for the reason Hokerer mentioned, but in any application it does retain moisture and chokes out competing vegetation if you use it for mulch. I've also noticed a large numbers of earthworms moving into the sawdust areas. Don't exactly know why that is, but they're more than welcome to set up shop there.

 

[Jake]

Elk,

wouldn't I want a catalitic stove?

 

[hearthtools]

hardwoods do not make a good burning pellet.
they are high in ash.
to me Fir is the best and pine/fir mix is the next best pellet fuel.

 

[Jake]

Marth is the place we've been taking our truckloads, its kind of far (for the $$) and we have to keep a semi in our fleet.